Why stop there? Why should a yellow cape enable a fat plumber to fly? What exactly is it about the pits that kills Mario, seeing as he's fallen from incredible heights (in the 2D ones) without any harm? What is it about knocking over a lot of enemies with a single shell that enables you to return from the dead? Damn, now I want to play some SNES...

"What if Yoshi was a real dinosaur" ==> Yoshi used to be a real dinosaur in the past, but no longer is."What if Yoshi were a real dinosaur" ==> a hypothetical imagining that Yoshi is currently a real dinosaur**

Comedians and Pearl Jam should not be relied upon as models of correct grammar.